As one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the many faces of NBA basketball, LeBron James has never been shy about voicing issues he considered important. And in today’s particularly aggressive political climate, that’s not a bad thing for a world-renowned athlete to be.
Recently, James sparked some tough conversations after calling out the media in a post-game press conference this week. Right before he got up to exit the room, James called them out for not asking him about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (who went viral for a 50-year-old photo of him blocking a group of black students from entering his High School) despite going crazy over the Kyrie Irving scandal.
“I got one question for you guys before you guys leave,” James said in a serious tone. “I was thinking when I was on my way over here, I was wondering why I haven’t gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo,” James said. “But when the Kyrie [Irving] thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that.”
“When I watch Kyrie talk and he says, ‘I know who I am, but I want to keep the same energy when we’re talking about my people and the things that we’ve been through,’ and that Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments that our people, Black people, have been through in America. And I feel like as a Black man, as a Black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong, or something that people don’t agree with, it’s on every single tabloid, every single news coverage, it’s on the bottom ticker. It’s asked about every single day. But it seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation, photo — and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it — but it seems like it’s just been buried under, like, ‘Oh, it happened. OK, we just move on.'”
Of course, James’ statement hasn’t been well-received by everybody, but it’s hard to deny the point he was trying to make.
Stephen A. Smith Sides With The King After His Press Conference Statement
On First Take Thursday morning, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith made sure to cover the LeBron presser on the show, and he had a lot to say about it.
“I can’t applaud LeBron enough for what he said. I one thousand percent agree with LeBron James because that wasn’t about Jerry Jones. What LeBron was talking about was where’s the intensity? You ask Kyrie these questions, you bombard him with one point after another after another. What LeBron is talking about is unavoidable: the media. Trump says something, they ask LeBron about it. LeBron James has been subjected to question after question after question but suddenly when it came to Jerry Jones, you didn’t ask? Cause I assure you if I was in that press room, I would have asked him.”
.@KingJames was on point on this! pic.twitter.com/tc62v7F7wN
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) December 1, 2022
It’s not surprising that Stephen A. holds this opinion, as he has been one of the loudest voices for social justice on the ESPN network.
But no matter how you feel about Stephen A. or LeBron James, you have to give them both credit for not shying away from the truth and calling things out as they see it.
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